Scan barcode
directorpurry's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
"You assimilate, but you need somewhere to go. You keep your passport to hand. You keep something private."
This is more a family story than a book about art or Jewish history. There were times I felt great kinship with de Waal and the Ephrussi family, and other times I felt nothing at all. Our shared ethnicity was not enough to tie us together.
But through it all I felt such deep sadness - in such a time of destruction and loss, why do you get your art collections back when my grandmother will never know the names of her aunts when both were taken in the same instance?
This is more a family story than a book about art or Jewish history. There were times I felt great kinship with de Waal and the Ephrussi family, and other times I felt nothing at all. Our shared ethnicity was not enough to tie us together.
But through it all I felt such deep sadness - in such a time of destruction and loss, why do you get your art collections back when my grandmother will never know the names of her aunts when both were taken in the same instance?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and War
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Confinement and Torture
stellarstar's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
An astonishing account of the history of, not only an heirloom, but three generations of a Jewish family. The research alone must deserve a medal! Beautifully written, fascinating; a must-read if you are interested in biographies.
(Why are no photographs of the netsuke?)
(Why are no photographs of the netsuke?)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism and War
funktious's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
5.0
How objects are handed on is all about story-telling. I am giving you this because I love you. Or because it was given to me. Because I bought it somewhere special. Because you will care for it. Because it will complicate your life. Because it will make someone else envious. There is no easy story in legacy. What is remembered and what is forgotten? There can be a chain of forgetting, the rubbing away of previous ownership as much as the slow accretion of stories. What is being passed on to me with all these small Japanese objects?
I have several books in this genre over the past couple of years - e.g. East West Street and The World of Yesterday - and what makes this one stand out is the tactility of it, which isn't surprising given the author is a ceramicist. I really enjoyed the focus on objects, and all the ways we imbue objects with meaning. Charles in Paris surrounding himself with art, to demonstrate his immersion in and adoption of a French identity. The children in Vienna playing with the netsuke throughout their childhoods, which is surely part of the reason they ended up being saved. And how stripping people of their belongings is also a way of changing their identities;
This is the strange undoing of a collection, of a house and of a family. It is the moment of fissure when grand things are taken and when family objects, known and handled and loved, become stuff.
A tough read in places, with the author becoming so focused on tracking down every detail, but you can't really blame him. You can really sense the weight of responsibility he feels. And, as with East West Street, it's interesting to contrast that with the older generations who were more eager to forget and move on - like Elisabeth burning her letters. The pre-war chapters were very long, more than half the book, but I sympathise with his desire to show how integrated and 'western' and secular his family was, and how none of that made a difference to what happened.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
helenaliu's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Cultural appropriation
jenpattinson's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Utterly beautiful and gutwrenching. De Waal writes so lovingly and thoughtfully about his rather complicated but fascinating family and their history.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
kibiiiariii's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Deportation
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation
Minor: Sexual content
saintmaud's review against another edition
medium-paced
edmund de waal's writing is steady and solid but still punctuated with empathy, that only another artist could write about. i wonder what it is like to have a family so famous, so connected, to actually have traces and records to look at, even after the days of glory are gone long past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism and War
tea_tamai's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Das erste Drittel des Buches zieht sich, jedoch finde ich das dies im Anblick auf Inhalt und Themen passend die erzählte Geschichte widerspiegelt.
Ich bin froh, es gelesen zu haben und kann es nur weiterempfehlen, für alle die sich mehr mit Geschichte, Kunst und Antisemitismus auseinander setzen wollen.
Ich bin froh, es gelesen zu haben und kann es nur weiterempfehlen, für alle die sich mehr mit Geschichte, Kunst und Antisemitismus auseinander setzen wollen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, War, and Deportation
Moderate: Physical abuse and Suicide
Minor: Infidelity
booklooker's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Der "Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen" ist ein Buch, das die Reise eine Sammlung kleiner japanischer Kunstschnitzereien namens Netsuke nachverfolgt. Aus dieser Prämisse hat sich die Familiengeschichte des Autors (Edmund de Waal) seit seinem Urgroßvater, dem Kunst-aficionado Charles Ephrussi, entwickelt. Man verfolgt die Reise der Netsuke von Paris über Wien und Tunbridge Wells bis nach Tokyo.
Man merkt, dass de Waal den Dingen verbunden ist. Auf eine subtile und unmerkliche Art beschwört er das Gedächtnis und die Perspektive der Dinge, v.a. der Netsuke. Als Zuschauer - gleich den Dingen vor derem Blick sich die Geschichte abspielt - werdne wir in das Alltagsleben der jeweiligen Besitzer der Netsuke eingeführt, wo wir mit allen Spielarten der Alltäglichkeit konfrontiert werden, z.B. etwadie Verbindungen zu der Pariser Salon- und Künstlergesellschaft, der Operngruppen in Wien, der japanischen Welt nach dem 2. WK, sowie Antisemitismen und deren Lokalkolorit (wie angepasst und naturalisiert ist erlaubt? Und warum ist das in Wien anders als in Paris?)
Diese Zeugenschaft der Dinge zeigt sich dabei v.a. an der Wahl der jeweiligen Protagonisten als auch in den Abschnitten, in denen der Autor die jeweiligen Städte zu Recherchezwecken besucht und diese Reisen sowie deren emotionale Wirkung auf ihn protokolliert. Bei all dem wird einerseits die "Textur" der Dinge und deren Geschichte spürbar, gleichzeitig bleibt der Leser/die Leserin in einer eigenartigen Weise distanziert. So als wäre der Leser/die Leserin eine weitere kleine Figur in der Sammlung, vor deren Augen sich die Geschichte entfaltet.
Man merkt, dass de Waal den Dingen verbunden ist. Auf eine subtile und unmerkliche Art beschwört er das Gedächtnis und die Perspektive der Dinge, v.a. der Netsuke. Als Zuschauer - gleich den Dingen vor derem Blick sich die Geschichte abspielt - werdne wir in das Alltagsleben der jeweiligen Besitzer der Netsuke eingeführt, wo wir mit allen Spielarten der Alltäglichkeit konfrontiert werden, z.B. etwa
Diese Zeugenschaft der Dinge zeigt sich dabei v.a. an der Wahl der jeweiligen Protagonisten als auch in den Abschnitten, in denen der Autor die jeweiligen Städte zu Recherchezwecken besucht und diese Reisen sowie deren emotionale Wirkung auf ihn protokolliert. Bei all dem wird einerseits die "Textur" der Dinge und deren Geschichte spürbar, gleichzeitig bleibt der Leser/die Leserin in einer eigenartigen Weise distanziert. So als wäre der Leser/die Leserin eine weitere kleine Figur in der Sammlung, vor deren Augen sich die Geschichte entfaltet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: War